Poland Moves to Ban Abortion With No Exceptions

WARSAW — A pro-life group in Poland is collecting signatures for a citizen’s bill that would ban all abortion in the nation without exceptions.

The move, led by Fundacja Pro (Pro Foundation), was sparked by outrage over a recent botched abortion at Holy Family Hospital in Warsaw in which the 24-week child, who had been diagnosed with Down Syndrome, was left unattended to die.

“The scream of this child was so traumatic for the personnel that they declared that they will never forget it,” Polish reporter Anna Wiejak told the outlet Church Militant.

The matter sparked outrage among Catholic leaders in the country. Over 90 percent of Polish citizens identify as Roman Catholic.

“We believe that every person, especially one who is completely helpless and dependent on us, should be of particular concern,” said the Polish Bishops Conference in a statement. “This is a concrete way of realizing the commandment to love one another.”

Current law in Poland allows abortion in instances of when the woman was impregnated in the commission of a crime, when the life and health of the mother is at risk, and for fetal handicaps and abnormalities, up to 25 weeks. There are approximately 200 abortions in the country under these exceptions.

The procedure had been banned altogether until 1932, and other exceptions have come and gone, such as in 1997, when “emotional distress” was introduced but struck down by the Polish Constitutional Court.

“The proposed draft ensures that all children, before and after birth, have equal rights and protection of life and health,” outlines legal group Ordo Iuris, which wrote the proposed language of the citizen’s bill, on its website. “It removes the three existing circumstances under which an abortion is currently permitted. The initiative requires the state to support families raising handicapped children or children conceived in in circumstances related to the commission of an offense.”

“Every human being has the inherent right to live from the moment of conception, i.e. the fusion of a female and male gametes. The life and the health of a child since its conception are protected by the law,” the bill reads.

“Public administration and local self-government bodies, within the limits of their respective competences, as specified in particular regulations, shall be obliged to provide material assistance and care to families raising children who are seriously handicapped or who suffer from a life-threatening illness, as well as to mothers and their children when there are reasons to suspect that the pregnancy is a result of an unlawful act,” it mandates.

While physicians who violate the law would face between three months and three years of incarceration, mothers who obtain an abortion illegally would not be punished.

Feminists and abortion advocates have protested the move, as well as former first ladies Danuta Wałęsa, Jolanta Kwaśniewska and Anna Komorowska.

“Every abortion is a tragedy, but we should not aggravate women’s tragedy by forcing them to give birth to children of rape or forcing them to risk their own life or health or that of their child,” they wrote in an open letter.

But Prime Minister Beata Szydlo said that she supports the citizen’s initiative, stating that the Bishops Conference statement “has clearly pointed us in the right direction. … Each of us must now decide according to conscience.”

The citizen’s bill must obtain 100,000 signatures in order to be considered by legislators.

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Nidalap

The headline isn’t QUITE accurate. Poland isn’t moving to ban all abortion. A pro-life group there is…

Semp

Poland has had it rough for so long – imperalist Germany on one side, imperialist Russia on the other. Christianity gave them something to cling to as a life preserver.

Nidalap

I note that you don’t approve of folks stating the obvious about your incorrect headline. All I said was that it wasn’t Poland moving to ban all abortion, just a pro-life group there.

You DO know it becomes obvious mere seconds after starting to read the article right? Why remove my post? 🙂

TheBottomline4This

CN removed your post? Why?

Nidalap

Good question! I’d have to speculate, but I think you can guess what my guess would be…

It comes down to who is “Poland”. Maybe you believe it is the state structures, and not the Polish people. Perhaps the remark you are complaining about contained profanity, vulgarity, blasphemy, all caps, or discourteous behavior – perhaps discourteous behavior towards the publication. My kids say “all I said” too, when they said rather differently to what they say afterward.

I couldn’t help notice that the bill also requires the state to support the children after they are born and to care for those that are conceived as a result of a crime. American pro life groups never would propose the state help women or their children. Quite the opposite approach here. The unborn in the USA are a more valuable political tool than already born ones

Christian

Actually there are programs in place for these situations. The problem is they are state by state and so they vary drastically and are difficult to find and utilize-could it be because people would complain about these programs existing too? We also have volunteer/non profit organizations that help as well. Again, the problem is you have to know where to look. Because our society has gone so far left wing you hear and see more about abortion and PP than the providers that do make a difference for women in a crisis pregnancy.

Grace Kim Kwon

Banning abortion(murder) = true humaneness

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